Opening arguments made in Braintree murder trial

Lucas Walters is charged with using an ax to kill Jeffrey Phillips in a shed outside their Braintree apartment building in 2009. Opening arguments in Walters’ murder trial were presented Thursday in Norfolk Superior Court.

By Fred Hanson

The Patriot Ledger, Quincy, MA

By Fred Hanson

Posted May. 31, 2013 at 12:01 AM
Updated May 31, 2013 at 10:53 PM

By Fred Hanson

Posted May. 31, 2013 at 12:01 AM
Updated May 31, 2013 at 10:53 PM

DEDHAM

» Social News

Jurors will hear and see Lucas Walters describe to investigators how he killed Jeffrey Phillips in a shed on the grounds of their Braintree apartment building, lawyers said.

“The last person to see Jeffrey Phillips alive was Lucas Walters, and the first person to see Jeffrey Phillips dead was Lucas Walters,” Assistant District Attorney Brian Wilson told a Norfolk Superior Court jury Thursday.

Walters is charged with killing Phillips in a shed on the property of their Braintree apartment building in 2009. Opening arguments in Walters’ murder trial were heard Thursday.

Wilson said Walters left Phillips’ body in the shed for two days before he wrapped it in tarps, drove the body to a wooded area in West Suffield, Conn., and left it there. Walters used a credit card stolen from Phillips to put gas in his truck for the trip, Wilson said.

Defense attorney William Sullivan said jurors will see and hear something else as Walters talks to investigators about Phillips’ death.

Sullivan said Walters and Phillips went to the shed to smoke crack, and an argument began when Walters asked Phillips for money to buy drugs. A fight developed, and Phillips hit Walters with a rake, Sullivan said.

That was when “the defendant exploded” and hit Phillips several times with an ax, Sullivan said.

Six days after Phillips disappeared, as friends and family members were launching a search for him, Walters walked into the Braintree police station to make a statement to police.

Heading to the station with his longtime girlfriend, Walters told her that he “did something bad. I hurt Jeff,’” Sullivan said.

Walters, 33, had long struggled with drugs, and would go to Springfield to buy crack from the same dealer who sold to his mother, Sullivan said.

Sullivan said Walters had dropped out of school when he was 14 years old but had been working in construction.

Wilson said Walters built the shed and was the only one who had access to it. He said the prosecution will present evidence that Phillips’ blood and DNA was found on “numerous items” including Walters’ T-shirt and sneakers.

Wearing a dark suit, white shirt and a dark striped tie, Walters sat stiffly in a chair at the defense table during jury selection and the opening statements from the prosecution and the defense.

Testimony in the trial, before Judge Kenneth Fishman, was expected to begin this morning. The trial is expected to last three weeks.

On Monday, the jurors are expected to go to the apartment building at 391 Middle St. in Braintree, where Phillips died.